The present invention relates generally to cleats having a retracted, folded or depressed inoperative position and which are capable of being raised to an upright operative position. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cleat that is easily folded to be flush with the surface of its base in the inoperative position and easily raised and secured to the operative position.
Cleats having a depressed inoperative position which can be moved to an operative position are well known in the art. Such cleats are generally shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,125,779, 5,535,694, and 5,301,627, all to Czipri. Folding cleats have been particularly described in and shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,478 to Kafka et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,944 to Burke.
Various such prior art devices initially appear to be flush with the outer surface of a boat on which they are mounted. However, the majority of the device is actually concealed underneath the device surface. Such devices, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,478 to Kafka require extensive holes are cut in the sides of boats on which they are installed. Moreover, the amount of subsurface room that such devices occupy may typically be put to better use. It is therefore desirable to have a folding boat cleat that occupies a minimum amount of interior or subsurface space.
Other folding cleats, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,944 to Burke require a user to manually lift the boat cleat from its space and maintain it in an upright or operative position during use. However, securing a boat typically requires two hands and therefore it is desirable to have a cleat which may be maintained in the operative position without any assistance from the user.
It is therefore a primary feature of the present invention to overcome the problems in the prior art.
It is a further feature of the present invention to provide a foldable boat cleat that takes up a minimum of interior space.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a foldable boat cleat that is easily operated and secured by a user.
A still further feature of the present invention is the provision of a foldable boat cleat that may be secured in the operative position without any additional effort from the user.
These, as well as other features, objects, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification and claims.